January 2024 Update

Though things may seem quiet here, a lot of work is going on in the background to make this Patreon account better for you. I'm still currently a "one-man show," so everything that gets done on Patreon, YouTube and the websites is done by myself, which means things go slower than I want, but there is some excellent progress, so let me share that with you.

1. Online Flavour & Beverage Development Course

This has been the focus for most of January 2024, and the course goal is to fill a significant knowledge gap in how to work with flavours. Most flavour development is done in private companies, and those companies consider their formulation work to be their intellectual property, which is fair. However, that means there is little publicly available information for anyone wanting to do their own flavour development work. Currently, it seems like the only option for people is to hire a consultant who was previously employed to develop flavours at one of those companies. This course will put that flavour development capability into your hands.

The course will also get into why things are done a certain way. For example, why certain flavour compounds are used, and it has to do with solubility, which is also related to shelf-stability. And it will correct a few things from my earlier YouTube videos. When I made those videos, I simplified a few things because I thought my audience was more bartenders, but then I discovered there are a lot of you who want to actually make a commercial product, so this will focus on that.

The course will consist of about 28 to 30 videos, all new, but some of the videos will be modified versions of one already published ones, like How to Make and Extract, but with more info for proper product development. And there will be much more expanded info on topics that I haven't made videos on to answer a lot of questions.

2. Course Discounts

As a Patreon member, of course, there will be discounts. At this point, there will be the standard introductory discount, but as a Patreon, you will also get a deeper discount, and it will be based on the value of your membership. So if you've been a member since the start, in one of the higher tiers, like the Drink Maker or Benefactor level, you may, in fact, get the course for free. If you've been a Drink Support member for a year, expect to get at least the full amount you've put into Patreon as the starting discount.  

3. Flavour Zone

Flavour Zone is still being worked on and it is an important element for this group. There is a lot, and I mean a lot, of data that needs to be entered so everyone can understand how to work with flavour compounds. But as I mentioned at the beginning, this is a one-man show, and time constraints slow down data entry. At some point, if this Patreon keeps growing, I will outsource some of the data entry. 

If you look at the perfume developers, even the hobbyist-level perfume makers have access to all the information they need to understand usage levels and productions, and they even have many online forums for discussion and support. Flavour and beverage development does not have that in any meaningful way. This is the knowledge gap that I mentioned earlier, and I would like to fill that in because it would create so many opportunities for so many people, and that would be cool.

4. Live Streams

I've bought the equipment for it, and in February, I will do a general Q&A livestream, so if you have suggestions on what time or a specific day works best for you, let me know. So, if Saturday mornings or Wednesday nights work best, post below. I'm in the Eastern time zone.

5. YouTube

Currently, YouTube is taking a back seat to all of the above, but I should start making more general topic videos in February. The course and Flavour Zone come first because those are the bottlenecks to getting people started in flavour development.

Those are the updates and if you have any questions, please let me know. Cheers